MANILA, Philippines, Jan 12, 2006 (AFP) - The annual ASEAN leaders' summit is to be held in the central Philippines in December, President Gloria Arroyo announced Thursday. The Philippines was supposed to take helm of the alphabetically rotating ASEAN chairmanship next year, but Myanmar said it would forego its chance to host the summit later this year amid pressure over the continued detention of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The Philippines will take over the ASEAN chairmanship from Malaysia. The summit will gather leaders from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam and will tackle various issues affecting the region from terrorism to avian flu, officials said. "The ASEAN summit will be held in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu," Arroyo said in a speech during a visit to Cebu, a major tourist destination. She said the summit is tentatively scheduled from December 11-14, which would be declared public holidays. str-jvg/kw/th